The invention pertains to a device for inserting primers in rifle and pistol ammunition cartridges using a standard upright loading press and standard shell holders.
Conventional press mounted priming tools have a tube filled with primers that are fed by gravity, one at a time, to a primer arm and then pushed into the cartridge. This creates an undue risk to the operator because all primers stacked within a tube are likely to explode if a single one is accidentally detonated. The consequences are self evident. Besides being unsafe, when the primers are stacked in a tube, they must be loaded into the tube one at a time. This is a slow process.
When large numbers of primers are inserted in cartridges, small quantities of priming propellant tend to dust off and accumulate in some parts of the press. In prior art reloading presses, this accumulation of explosive material presents a hazard, not so much in itself, but as an igniter for primers that are nearby.
In prior art ammunition cartridge reloading presses, the cartridge holders had to be of special design in order to provide guidance for the primers so they are aligned with the hole in the cartridge head to thereby, hopefully, avoid crushing of a live primer and accidental detonation.